SHAMBHALA SUN JANUARY 2012 21
EVERYONE HERE IS AN EXAMPLE of something I’ve been
wishing for for many years. You are what I call “cool heroes.” By
cool I mean nonviolent. Cool heroes are people who are force-
ful, intelligent, just, and insightful, who can speak up loudly and
clearly, but without getting angry or indulging in hatred.
We need cool heroes today. We don’t need hot heroes. You’re
happier than the violent people. Look at you; you’re all smiling.
The final completion of the American revolution has to be fun,
nonviolent, and determined while cool. As Gandhi said, peace
has to be the path to peace. Violence will never be the path to
peace. Jesus said “Love thine enemy!” The Buddha said that
hatred will not put an end to hatred. Only nonhatred and love
will put an end to hatred.
We are here at Liberty Plaza because we’re trying to keep lib-
erty alive on this planet. This planet is in dire jeopardy because
of the military-industrial machine, which is beyond East and
West. The industrial part represents organized greed. It expands
the greed of individuals with hi-tech power and it is exceeding
the capacity of the planet. Pollution, global warming, and over-
population come from this technological expansion of greed. On
the other side, we have hatred. This necessarily goes along with
greed, because greedy people hate other greedy people, whom
they assume are trying to take away whatever it is they want.
We need to control both greed and hatred. But to do that,
every person has to control the greed and hatred in their own
minds. No one should be protesting against nasty bankers if
they really hate them. They are not deserving of being hated;
they are suffering people just like us. At the moment they may
seem luckier than us, but in the long run they are unluckier.
They are taking away too much from too many, and this makes
them paranoid and unhappy. They need ten million dollars, and
when they get it, they want a hundred. And when they’ve got a
hundred million dollars, they want a billion. By then they’re on
their fourth trophy wife, their kids can’t stand them, and they
are literally afraid of everyone.
Therefore, we don’t hate the bankers and traders of Wall
Street whose offices overlook us. They are objects of sympathy
and compassion. Actually, I think people shouldn’t be allowed
to graduate from business school without getting an education
in what enlightened self-interest really means. They should get
extensive training in personal emotional and meditative skills to
cultivate true contentment, so that one of the important ques-
tions they have to answer before they graduate is, how happy
are you really?
Your voice here today is being heard worldwide. Against it is
the whole TV nation, twenty-four hours a day giving your com-
patriots—good, kind people all over the country—a completely
distorted vision of what is really going on here. To break through
that you will need to be persistent. You are making your voices
STILLFROMAVIDEOBYVELCROWRIPPER
The Cool Heroes of Zuccotti Park
Determined, insightful, nonviolent—Buddhist scholar ROBERT THURMAN tells the protesters
of Occupy Wall Street that they’re just the kind of people the country needs.
Adapted from a speech by Robert Thurman to Occupy Wall Street protesters
in Zuccotti Park in New York’s Liberty Plaza on October 13.